International Africa Day 2022

59 years of African Unity and how help alliance is engaged on the continent today

59 years ago today, on May 25, 1963, the first pan-African association, the Organization of African Unity (OAE) was founded by 32 African states in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. The establishment of the OAE took place during the decolonization of the African continent: The newly independent African states created an important political forum for the vision of a united Africa, with sovereign states – free from the remnants of colonization. Important goals today are to promote prosperity and peace, and to expand international cooperation for the positive development of the continent. In 2002, the OAU was officially replaced by the African Union, which today can count and unites all 55 recognized countries of the continent among its members.

Not least through the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations (#17 Goals), all countries and actors worldwide have been made responsible for addressing global challenges such as poverty, unequal educational opportunities or inhumane working conditions. The fact that events in our globalized world often have not only a local, but rather a worldwide impact is also evident in the Ukraine war. Since Russia and Ukraine are major producers of wheat, petroleum and cooking oil, the war has created critical supply shortages and unacceptable price increases in energy and grains across the African continent. The East Africa region, for example, gets 90% of its wheat imports from the European crisis region, and there are warnings of a humanitarian crisis on the continent. If food is not secured, this will also affect the achievement of other sustainability goals, such as access to quality education and the development of a sustainable economy, and will undo successes in these areas.

Lufthansa Group employees have been contributing to the elimination of global challenges through their voluntary commitment to social projects since 1999. Today, help alliance promotes more than 50 social projects worldwide in the areas of education, work and income as the key to sustainable development. The partnerships with organizations that help alliance enters into in the context of project sponsorship are characterized by respectful cooperation at eye level, and we always strive to reflect on and adapt our structures in the spirit of equal cooperation. Here is an insight into our funding of social projects on the African continent in 2021:

15 projects
1,267,653 € Project funding
14,500 + beneficiaries
2,100 + children received access to (pre-) school education as well as extracurricular courses
1000 + young adults received access to vocational training